Tele-density crosses 63pc mark: PTA

KARACHI: The overall tele-density has again crossed 63 per cent mark in April, after declining from the peak of 63.5 per cent in December 2009, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Tuesday.

The cellular segment remained the major contributor with the tele-density of 59.4 per cent followed by 2.1 per cent from the fixed-line and 1.6 per cent from the WLL segment, PTA data revealed.

Cellular subscribers marginally grew by 0.6 per cent month-on-month (M-o-M), while on year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis it registered an increase of six per cent to stand at 97.3 million, it said. Mobilink maintained its lion’s share of 33 per cent in the cellular segment, with month-on-month and year-on-year growth of 0.8 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively.

Telenor followed with a share of 24 per cent and subscribers’ base of 23.5 million during the month under review, depicting an increase of 0.8 per cent M-o-M and 17 per cent Y-o-Y).Ufone witnessed net additions of 0.11 million subscribers during April. On Y-o-Y basis it went down by four per cent and its segment share stood at 19 per cent. With 0.6 per cent M-o-M rise, Warid’s total subscriber base reached 16.4 million and its market share stood at 17 per cent. On Y-o-Y basis, WaridÂ’s subscribers contracted by seven per cent).

Zong’s subscriber base went down by 0.3 million during the last two months (March-April) due to closure of inactive SIMs, according to the data. However, the company managed to maintain market share above seven per cent.

After witnessing a cumulative shrinkage of 0.13 million in the subscriber base during December 2009-February 2010, wireless local loop (WLL) segment eventually witnessed an aggregate growth of three per cent during the last two months (March-April), up by one per cent M-o-M and five per cent Y-o-Y. The market share of PTCL’s Vfone stood at 45 per cent with 0.4 per cent M-o-M increase in subscribers.

Nevertheless, Y-o-Y comparison depicted a gloomy picture as Vfone lost both its subscriber base and market share by five per cent. Telecard continued to observe growth in its subscribers with one per cent M-o-M and 11 per cent Y-o-Y increase. Resultantly, its market share improved to 25 per cent from 24 per cent a year ago followed by Worldcall with a market share of 22 per cent and a growth of 0.3 per cent M-o-M and seven per cent Y-o-Y in subscriber base.

In the broadband segment, the total subscribers reached 772k-mark, registering a surge of 87 per cent YTD and eight per cent M-o-M during March. DSL dominated the segment with 56 per cent market share as it grew by 66 per cent YTD and six per cent M-o-M.

WiMAX further gained its share in the broadband segment and its chunk in the total pie jumped to 30 per cent as consumers preferred the new and improved wireless technology, it added.
Source: The News
Date:6/9/2010